SELECTED INDEX

Many of the listings in this index are followed by unusually detailed information or descriptions, helpful to evaluate their relative importance as means for preventing and/or remedying jungle and similar snafus. Many of those sublistings are given chronologically, to enable readers better to appreciate how our armed forces’ capabilities for winning jungle wars were developed and lost, and why those strengths should be regained.

Abrams, General Creighton W. Abrams:

replaced General Westmoreland as the Commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (COM US MACV), 324

impressed generals in “Pentagon East” by having luxurious mahogany panelling removed from the walls of their offices, 326, 327

Vietnamization, Abrams’ most difficult responsibility, 317, 324-327

briefed by Kearny on improved, lighter equipment for anti-communist infantrymen, 225, 226

ACTIV, Army Concept Team In Vietnam, a means for expediting, 275

Agent Orange:

justified uses in Vietnam, 151, 152

disadvantageous, contraproductive uses, 152

Thai officers dissuaded from using, 153

AK-47s:

greasy, dirty, AK-47 cartridges did not cause jamming in the Tet Offensive, 103

design advantages of AK-47 and its ammunition, 103, 104

Colonel David H. Hackworth’s account of his firing an AK-47 immediately after its being buried in a bog for a year, 108, 109

all AK-47s now have assembled, quickly removable ramrods, 109

AK-74s, replaced AK-47s, fire supersonic bullets, 104, 109

Allen, Lieutenant Colonel Alfred M., medical researcher and author of Skin Diseases in Vietnam, 315, 316

Ambar, Brigadier General Shlomo, his Israeli brigade harassed by thirsty flies, 227, 228

American Legion, supplied hundreds of thousands of M-16 bags to the Army and Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf War, 120, 121

Ammunition pouches, 264, 265

Anderson, Major General E. E., USMC, forbade any use or evaluation in Vietnam of civilian flotation devices, 37

Andrews, John C., a Vietnam veteran with Intelligence Defense Logistics Agency, outstandingly perceptive regarding how the Armed Services concentrate on preparing to fight wars that are considered winnable, 349, 350

Andrews, Lieutenant General Frank, C.G. Caribbean Defense Command shortly before and for several months after Pearl Harbor:

made intelligence funds available to Kearny, enabling him to develop and to supply for a few Jungle Platoons:

waterproof compasses, 57

breath-inflated infantrymen’s boats, 58

individual flotation gear, 58

the first Jungle Boots, 90, 174

the first machetes (not bolos) issued to American infantrymen, 95

the first ponchos issued to American soldiers since shortly after the Spanish American War, 233

test quantities of the dry, ready-to-eat Jungle Ration, 289

ordered Kearny to Washington to demonstrate and advocate improved jungle equipment, 58, 61

Antitank hand grenades:

used by Finns to destroy Russian tanks, 139, 140

improvised by 101st Airborne tank-killers, including Jim Kimble, in the Battle of the Bulge, 139

improvised by Sgt. Ron Bishop and others in the Vietnam War, 139

Ants in jungle, and ineffectiveness of permethrin for protection, 226, 242, 243

Armor, personnel (helmet and a body armor vest together weighing 11.9 pounds in the Vietnam War), disadvantageous if worn during jungle operations on foot, 277

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), 17, 325, 326

Arnhem Bridge over the Rhine, 62-64, 135

Atabrine, the most effective malaria medicine during W.W.II, 312

AT4, the light antitank weapon which in the late 1990s replaced the LAW as standard issue in all Marine Corps and many Army combat units, 134

Ba, Major General Ly Tong, ARVA division commander who was captured because the compass he depended on was immersed in paddy water and ruined, 166

Bag, Waterproof Clothing, 27

Bag, Waterproof Pack Liner, 18, 26, 27, 33

Bags, M-16 Rifle (See M-16 Rifle Bags.)

Bags to protect soldier-carried weapons (not including rifles), 115

Bags, Waterproof Food:

of W.W.II, 28, 29

of Vietnam War and later, 28, 29

Balck, General Hermann (German), 65, 66

Balloons, meteorological:

used as flotation devices, 9, 23, 24, 39, 90

a commercial source of, 42

Balloons, toy, used as personal flotation devices, 38, 39

Bandoleers, nylon, successfully opposed by Army Ordnance, that continues to monopolize production and issue of its flimsy cotton bandoleers, 264-268

Battalion, 5th Ranger, 29

Battle Dress Uniform, Hot Weather:

adopted in 1984, 188

skin-disease-promoting, uncomfortable reinforcements, 188-191

BDUs with reinforcements last longer and are preferred by most peacetime soldiers, who have to buy their uniforms etc., to maintain their “clothing bags,” 190

costs to the soldier’s health, comfort, morale, and combat effectiveness are secondary considerations, 190

additional disadvantages, including too many pockets for footmobile jungle soldiers, 197, 198

other disadvantages, 371-373

two advantages, 373

Battle Dress Uniform, Light Weight, ordered by General Schwarzkopf in Persian Gulf War, had no reinforcements, other advantages, production ended after war, 189, 198

Bazooka, effective W.W.II shoulder-fired rocket launcher, 129

Bell, Sergeant Peter, Special Forces, needed unavailable ultra-lightweight boats in Vietnam in 1972, 67

Benewah, USS, 18

Besares, Sergeant Cecilio, reported on deficiencies in jungle equipment in Panama in 1987, 228

Bicycles, cargo carrying:

used by Japanese attacking Singapore, 283

pushed by Vietcong and NVA on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, 283

Biological weapons, 350

Bishop, Sergeant Ron, Company A, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry:

swears by his M-16 used to kill NV officer and soldiers in a bunker, 105, 106

used grenades and improvised powerful grenades by molding Composition C4 around a precussion grenade, 106, 139

Bladders, Flotation, Breath-Inflated, 26, 40, 41, 43

Bladders, swimming, breath inflated:

of Asiatic tribesmen, 24

of Spanish enemies of Julius Caesar, 24

Bliss, Major General Raymond W., the Army’s foresighted and forceful Surgeon General during all of W.W.II, 216, 217, 306, 307

Boat, knock-down, lightweight; Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny’s proved useful on expeditions in 1834, but was not adopted by the Army, 67

Boat, Reconnaissance, Pneumatic, 3 Person:

still issued in 1996, 52

disadvantages of, 52, 359

Boats, breath inflated:

needs for, 9, 10, 48, 54

Irrawaddy mass crossing, 49, 50

Salween mass crossing, 52-54

advantages of, 50-52

one C-47 could drop at least 370 of the 14 lb. W.W.II 3-man boats, 63

development of, 56

Kearny’s prototype stabbed by an Army Engineer Corps major, 58

valves designed for breath inflation, 51

Kearny jumped into the icy Potomac and quickly inflated a boat, 75-77

outer and inner bottoms, 60

additional design features, and user instructions, 354-360

Marine Corps’ 5-man W.W.II model, 69

lightweight, inexpensive boats will be needed by forces that the U.S. will assist, 69, 70

seagoing, rowed models, 77-80

SEALS and Rangers need such boats, 82

Mongols’ breath inflated, multi-bladdered boats, 68

Boats, Japanese infantrymen’s pneumatic, 62

B-52 bombers, one of the many powerful but not decisive weapons employed in the Vietnam War, 347

Booby traps, 19

Boot, Jungle, of W.W.II:

development initiated by Major General Walter E. Prosser in Panama two years before Pearl Harbor, as his unfunded personal project, 54, 55

improved prototypes manufactured by U.S. Rubber Co., with funds provided by Lieutenant General Frank Andrews for testing in Panama, 174

large scale production after being ordered by General Stilwell for his forces in Burma, 172, 175-176

appreciated by Merrill’s Marauders and Mars Task Force, 172, 173

ventilating insoles for Jungle Boots (See Insoles, ventilating.)

Boot, Tropical Combat (often called jungle boot), Hot Weather Combat Boot:

descriptions of, 173, 174, 179, 180-182, 366, 367

with Saran ventilating insoles, 181 (See Insoles, ventilating.)

with Panama Soles for improved traction, beginning in 1968, 180 (See Panama Soles for combat boots.)

drainage eyelets weakened, saving money; injuries and complaints resulted in improvements, 366, 367

“blowouts” resulted from poor quality control in the late 1980s, 368

Boots of Rommel’s Afrika Korps, leather, excellent, 181

Boots, the best for extreme cold, “Mickey Mouse Boots” and “Bunny Boots”:

adopted and proven in the Korean War, 187

manufacturing capability lost in 1995, 187

Boots worn in jungles by soldiers of foreign armies:

Army of the Republic of Vietnam, 186

Australian, 178

British, 185, 186

Chinese, 177

Thai, 185

Vietcong, 186

British 1st Airborne Division, 62-64, 135, 164

Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), 29, 114

Buckles, belt:

shiny brass buckles worn by most combat infantrymen in Vietnam, 199

“mobilization buckles,” dull, more securely holding, but not issued in Vietnam until after General Harold K. Johnson, late in the Vietnam War, ordered warehoused stocks in the U.S. drawn upon, 199

Burma, 48-54, 60

Burma Road, 191

Bushmaster Regimental Combat Team (158th Regimental Combat Team), 26

Byrd Cloth Uniform of W.W.II, mosquito-protective, cool; the best jungle uniform, 191-193, 207, 274, 369, 370

Carbine, M-2, used in 1995 by 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) replacing M-16s, 126

Carts, man-pulled:

used by Marines in W.W.II and the Korean War to move machine guns, mortars, etc., 284

no man-pulled or animal-pulled carts used by Americans in Vietnam War, 284

used by a Marine battalion in its unmechanized, 2-day infiltration of Iraqi defenses of Kuwait, 283, 284

Carts, machine gun, mule-pulled, 284, 285

CBI Roundup, (the China, Burma, India newspaper), its article on hundreds of breath-inflatable boats parachuted from one C-47, 49

Central Issue Facility, U.S. Army Special Warfare Center, 189

Cesar, Colonel Edison M., Ret’d, 132, 133, 328

Chapelle, Dickie, war correspondent, 33, 34, 277

Chechen resistance fighters:

destroyed many Russian tanks with shoulder-fired RPG-7s, 345

used lightweight weapons very effectively, forcing Russians to stop attacking with aircraft and armored columns, and to use small units supported by artillery, 345, 346

Chesarek, Lieutenant General F.J., C.G., Army Materiel Command, 239

Chester, Dr. Conrad V., 142

Chiggers (red bugs), permethrin proved effective against, 225

Chilean peacekeepers carried permethrin with them to Cambodia, 379-381

China, Burma, India Theater (CBI), 48, 49

Chucanaque, Rio, the largest river in Panama, 90

Citronella, the U.S. Armed Forces’ ineffective insect repellent issued until early in W.W.II, 215

Clark, Dr. Herbert, authority on malaria and tropical snakes, Director of Gorgas Memorial Laboratory, 248, 313

Clayton, Captain Gary, Special Forces A Team; needed Breath-Inflated Boats, 67

Colby, William, the civilian head of Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS), 331

Colorado National Guard, 191, 228

Combat Team, 158th Regimental, 26, 57, 62

Compasses, lensatic, and other issued types:

none waterproof/humidity proof, 164

our Vietnamese allies received very few, even for officers, 166

Waltham Compass Company’s wrist compass, not waterproof; 28,000 bought late in the Vietnam War, but most did not go to infantrymen, 165, 268

water gets under the crystal over the dial of even the Army’s lensatic compass made luminous by Tritium, 167

Compasses, waterproof, 6, 20, 166-171

Compasses, waterproof and humidity proof:

every jungle soldier needs one, 162

all soldiers in 158th Regimental Combat trained to use a compass, 162, 163

Army Quartermaster General in W.W.II got and issued tens of thousands of small waterproof compasses for use by all jungle soldiers in units, 163, 164

Army Engineer Corps opposed issuing compasses to all soldiers and forced Army Quartermaster Corps to stop buying compasses, 163

Silva Wrist Type 24W Compass, the best waterproof/humidity proof wrist compass bought privately and used by American soldiers in Vietnam and later, 164-167, 170-171

Silva Ranger Type 15CL Compass, the best waterproof/humidity proof compass purchased by American fighting men, 168-171

jungle soldiers’ continuing need for excellent individual compasses, 169, 170

commercial sources for mail order purchases of excellent compasses, 170-171

CORDS (Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support), ended the Vietcong’s capability for offensive operations, 331

Corregidor, 58

Cotton for military equipment, and cotton lobbyists, 264-270

Cresson, Colonel Charles C., grandfather of Cresson H. Kearny, 232

Cresson, Colonel Charles C. Jr., uncle of Cresson H. Kearny, 8

Cushman, Major General John H., 326

Darien, Panama, 89

Davidson, Lieutenant General Phillip B., J2 of MACV, 133, 294

DDT, the insecticide:

first jungle test of the effectiveness of aircraft-sprayed DDT, 216-218

degradation of the effectiveness of DDT, 218

WHO’s Global Eradication of Malaria Program abandoned after mosquitoes became resistant to DDT, 218

DEET, the best insect repellent, 214, 218, 219, 227

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 10

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), 115, 349, 350

Defense Nuclear Agency’s blast tests of Fuel Air Explosives, 146, 147

Desert Storm Support Group of Montrose, Colorado (organized by Beth Brougham), one of the Support Groups that made and mailed homemade M-16 Rifle Bags to servicepersons in Saudi Arabia, 120

Dien Bien Phu, the final French defeat in Indo China, 294

Doriot, Colonel Charles, a production expert who during W.W.II headed Special Forces, Office of the Army Quartermaster General, 369

Dorn, Brigadier General Frank, Salween River mass crossing, 53

Doughty, Colonel Robert A., military historian, 65, 66

DRAGON, a ground-to-ground, wire-guided missile, 128, 134

Drownings, preventable, caused by:

lack of flotation gear, 17, 26, 30, 36-38, 44, 45

being squeezed breathless by waist lifebelts, 30

being turned upside down by waist lifebelts, 30, 32, 33

Dysenteries, bacillary and amebic:

cause numerous casualties in combat units, under-reported in Vietnam War, 19, 320

resistance developed by exposure, impractical for American soldiers, 320

amebic dysentery, contracted in semi-tropical Mexico, killed Major General Stephen Watts Kearny, 320

Eighty-Second Airborne Division had no boats, 62-64

Eisenhower, General of the Army Dwight D., in the greatest airborne operation in history provided only a small fraction of his men with individual flotation gear, and had no lightweight boats for infantry units, 29, 62-64

ENSURE (Expedited Non-Standard Urgent Requirements for Equipment.), 157, 159, 275

Entrenching tool, lightweight, 280, 281

Entrenching tool with wooden handle, 280

Eskridge, May Willacy, married Cresson H. Kearny, 55 (See Kearny, May Willacy Eskridge)

Ewing, Lt. Gifford (U.S. Naval Reserve), transported the first Jungle Platoon to Darien, 90

Fear, its weakening effect on most men during combat, 281, 282

Ferguson, George C., Command Sergeant Major:

heroic infantryman in W.W.II, 12 Purple Hearts, 29

commanded the first Jungle Platoon of the 158th Infantry Regiment while he and his men were used like SEALS for 23 months against Japanese conquerors of some 40 jungle islands, 71, 72

used heavy rubber rafts and rubber boats against Japanese, 72

meteorological balloons used instead of bulky life jackets, 73

led a 6-man demolition team that destroyed the large Japanese relay station on San Cristobal Island, 73, 74

ambushed and beheaded a Japanese soldier, 98, 99

was knifed almost fatally, 74, 99

all other members of his 12-man Ranger team lost off Omaha Beach for want of flotation gear, 29, 30

carried a BAR instead of a rifle or carbine while fighting in France, 29

commanded the few rubber boats used by the 95th Division’s assault infantry company to cross the Moselle, 65

Finns, 139, 140, 181, 182

Firepower, its extravagant, enemy-recruiting overuse in Vietnam, 347

First aid kits, 307, 308

First Brands Corporation, donated 4,500,000 Glad Pleated Sandwich Bags to the American Legion, to protect M-16 magazines in the Gulf War, 120

Flamethrowers, backpacked, of W.W.II, improving their portability, 280

Flashlight, blackout, with blue lens for jungle troops in W.W.II, 91, 319

Flies, harassing, and life threatening, 225, 227, 374

Flotation Bladders/Collapsible Canteens, 17, 18, 20, 25, 26, 33, 35, 36, 42-45

Flotation Bladders, U.S. Marines 5-Qt., 21, 22

Flotation devices, personal (PFDs):

meteorological balloons, small, breath inflated, 9, 23, 24, 39, 90

3-qt. flotation bladder/collapsible canteen of W.W.II, 17

5-qt. flotation bladder, U.S.M.C., of W.W.II, 351, 352

M-16 rifle bags, breath inflated and used as PFDs, 121-123, 353

Flotation gear, individual:

a hazardous and successful demonstration, 34

used on a wartime jungle mission, 90

Flotation tubes:

used by Vietcong, 19, 20

made in North Vietnam, 20

impractical for American soldiers, 20

Fly bait (Die Fly, Golden Malrin) and sources, 227-229, 384, 385

Foot soldiers, their increasing effectiveness, 11, 347-350

Free-dropping supplies into jungle, proved practical in Panama early in W.W.II, but never officially tested or adopted, 300, 301, 391-393

French dancers backlighted by blazing Cholon, 105

Friar, Colonel Clyde L., Army Chemical Corps, developed reliably waterproof gas mask bag, 156, 157

Fuel-Air Explosive (FAE) phenomena and weapons:

characteristics and advantages, 142-144, 146, 147

detonation of, 143, 148

deflagration of, 143, 148

worst FAE deflagration accident, 143

initially contained ethylene oxide, a poisonous gas, 142

later contained propane and other hydrocarbons, 143, 146

Kearny’s unofficial, informative experiment with an FAE device containing ethylene oxide, and his warnings against employing such FAE weapons in Vietnam, 145, 146

limited use in Vietnam, 144, 145

protective countermeasures, 147-150

Saddam Hussein’s forces had FAE weapons, but were deterred from using, 148, 150

man-portable types needed by American infantrymen, 151

why terrorists don’t use, 151

Gambardella, Lieutenant Colonel Joe, USMC, gave 95 civilian waterwings to his men in Vietnam, 38

Gas Masks:

U.S. capability to retaliate with poison gas against Japanese enabled Americans to attack without carrying masks, 155, 156

impracticality of fighting in jungles contaminated with mustard gas weeks previously, 155

filter elements of gas masks carried by U.S. troops in Vietnam for protection against their own riot control gas, often wetted because “waterproof” gas mask bags frequently were not waterproof, 156

reliably waterproof bag for the M-17 lightweight gas mask developed, mass produced, issued in Vietnam — and replaced with the non-waterproof cheap M-1 bag after U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam, 156, 157, 159, 160

waterproof gas masks of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, 157, 158

inferiority of most American soldiers’ gas masks through 1995, 158

leak-prone M-1 gas mask bag used to protect the dangerously faulty M-17 gas mask and the excellent new M-40 mask — and that cheap bag is too small, 159-161

increasing need for excellent gas masks and waterproof bags, 160, 161

German agents with transmitters in Darien, Panama, 89

Gloves:

work gloves, cotton, issued to a few jungle infantrymen in W.W.II, 208

work gloves, leather, widely issued in the 1990s, 208

mosquito-protective gloves, 208, 209

Gorham, Dr. J. Richard, a leading U.S. Public Health Service entomologist, 224

“Graduated Response”, with slow increases in the bombing of North Vietnam, permitted the dispersal and survival of capabilities to manufacture excellent NVA uniform cloth and uniforms, 193

Gregory, Major General E.B., the farsighted Army Quartermaster General during W.W.II:

provided the only large number of compasses ever issued to all soldiers in combat units, 163, 164

got scarce brass nails for combat shoes and scarce rubber for Jungle Boots, 174, 175

anticipated the need for hooded ponchos in cold Europe, and retained a civilian firm to quickly design prototypes, 234

helped Chemical Warfare officers improve the portability of flamethrowers, 280

formed Special Forces of the Office of the Quartermaster General, a facility manned by reserve officers, civilian production experts, and explorers, 369

Grenades, hand, 106, 138-140

Guderian, General Heinz (German), trained his 19th Panzer Corps to use its few heavy rubber boats to cross French rivers, 66

Guevara, Che, commander of Cuban guerrillas, revolutionary strategist, advocate of hammocks, 240, 241

Hackworth, Colonel David H., U.S.A., Ret’d, 108, 109, 316

Hammock, Jungle, of W.W.II, with its permanently attached canopy, insect netting sides, permeable bed, and false bottom, 241-248, 250-252, 254, 261, 262

Hammock, jungle, Model 1966, the open hammock issued in Vietnam War and until mid-1990s, often used with separate Army poncho temporarily attached as canopy, 207, 248, 254-258, 262, 387-389

Hammock knot, Venezuelan, 248, 386, 387

Hammocks, best civilian, those of jungle exploration geologists, 241-243

Hammocks of foreign military forces:

Cuban guerrillas, 240, 241

British W.W.II soldiers in Burma, 250, 251

Brazilian army, 262

Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army, 252-254, 261

Hammocks, other uses and features of:

slung in slit trenches by Marines fighting on Guadalcanal, 246, 261

pitched as tents, 261

continuing need by American and friendly jungle soldiers, 260-262

Venezuelan quick release hammock knot, the best hammock knot, 248, 386, 387

Harding, Major General Forrest:

C.G. Thirty-Second Division, which was very poorly equipped and trained for jungle combat, and failed to dislodge Japanese from New Guinea, 88

C.G. Panama Mobile Force during most of W.W.II, 88

strongly supported Kearny’s work improving jungle equipment, etc., 88

Harrington, Gene, public relations chairman of The American Legion, Department of Maine, succeeded in having over 600,000 M-16 Rifle Bags produced and distributed during the Persian Gulf War, 119-121

Hartshorne, Major Whitney, Asst. Adj. Gen., Panama Mobile Force, 87

Hats, Tropical (boonie hats, jungle hats), combat infantrymen’s favorites, 203, 204

Haversack M-1928, unsatisfactory, but many carried in W.W.II, 270, 271

Headnets:

2-hooped mosquito/sandfly headnet, issued from early W.W.II for 50 years, 204, 205, 226, 227, 374

cheap, inferior headnet, the only type issued during and after 1994, 205

Herndon, Colonel J. Prugh, commanded 158th Regimental Combat Team, issued Waterproof Packliner Bags and Flotation Bladders for landing operations, 26

Hotel Majestic, Saigon, 102-105

Hoyle, Captain John D., Public Health Service Reserve, 225, 239, 251

Hudson Institute, 33

Husman, C.N., USDA research engineer, pioneered aerial spraying of DDT, 216, 217

Hussein, Saddam, dictator of Iraq, unexpectedly powerful survivor of the Persian Gulf War, 242

ILC Industries (ILC Dover), space suits and boat bladders, 35, 59, 67

Insoles, ventilating:

homemade ventilating insoles made by arctic Finns before W.W.II, 181, 182

prototypes made and tested in Panama before Pearl Harbor, 182

production models made of Saran screening, produced by the millions for 50 years between 1942 and 1992, 174, 178, 182, 183

designs successively worsened to reduce costs, “value engineering,” 182, 183

replaced in 1992 by non-ventilating, cheap Poron inserts/insoles, 183

Intelligence, failures re tanks deployed by the North Vietnamese Army before the Tet Offensive, 132, 133

International Latex Corporation, improved and manufactured Breath Inflated Boats, 35, 59

Irrawaddy, the second largest river in Burma, mass crossing using hundreds of breath‑inflated boats, 48-50

IR-sensing instruments, 347

Irwin, John N. II, a colonel in W.W.II, an advocate of better jungle equipment while The Under Secretary of State during the Vietnam War, 264

Javelin, the hand‑held, heat‑seeking successor of the shoulder‑fired AT4, reportedly able to hit tanks at ranges of up to 2,000 meters, 134, 345

“Jejen,” “bloodblister gnats,” vicious black flies in Venezuelan jungles, 215

Johnson, General Harold K., Army Chief of Staff in W.W.II, ordered improved jungle equipment, 67, 165, 180, 219, 261, 268

Jungle conflicts, no high-tech mechanized way to win, 342-345, 347, 348

Jungle equipment and dry, ready-to-eat rations, an early demonstration of their practicality for American soldiers, 89-93

Jungle Experiments Officer, Panama Mobile Force, Kearny’s position during most of W.W.II, 23

Kearny, Cresson H., Major AUS, Ret’d

Readers interested in detailed information on the author’s life, his numerous successes and failures, should read the entire book. In this index developments with which he was involved are listed under many different headings.

Kearny, Major General Stephen Watts:

commanded First Regiment of United States Dragoons in 1834-1846, 67

used French lightweight knock-down boat on expeditions, but could not interest the Army, 67, 68

improved uniforms, most other equipment, and tactics of the First United States Dragoons; became “... recognized as the father of U.S. Cavalry.”, 211, 212

commanded the Army of the West in the conquest of New Mexico and California, 212

died of amebic dysentery contracted in semi-tropical Mexico, 320

Kearny, May Willacy Eskridge:

fell in love with Cresson H. Kearny and married him two years later, 55

helped him avoid drowning when swimming alone, 38

raised their five children, 15, 16

took many of the photographs used in this book and helped him make prototypes of survival and military equipment, including the clay model of the Panama Sole used by a manufacturer to make the first molded rubber model, 179

Kelsey, Mr., foreman of the Panama Canal Zone’s Tent and Awning Shop, overcame difficulties to make the first prototypes of Jungle Hammocks, Jungle Packs and Rucksacks, and W.W.II type ponchos, 233

Kennedy, Dr. Stephen J., Natick Laboratories’ leading advocate of better equipment for jungle soldiers, 183, 197, 199

Kimble, Jim (Hoska Anahe Dahle), 101st Airborne Navaho American veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, etc., 135-139

Knives, fighting, 74, 97, 99, 102, 137, 138

Kreuger, Lieutenant General Walter, C.G. 6th Army in W.W.II, 26

Kuwait, defenses-in-depth infiltrated for 48 hours by Marine Battalion, which needed but did not have protective bags for its weapons, 125

Ladd, Colonel Jonathan F., Commander, 5th Special Forces Group, 332, 333

Landers, Eli, ripped off the 2-oz. rifle bag covering his BAR after wading through surf on Omaha Beach, 125

Landing Craft Infantry (LCI), 29

Lapidot, Major General Yaacov (Israel), gave Kearny his private opinion as to why Saddam Hussein did not use poison gasses or biological weapons against American forces, 161

Larson, Dr. Clarence E., A.E.C. Commissioner and V.P. of Union Carbide, provided Kearny with funds for developing jungle equipment, 34

Laverde, Captain (Columbian Army), taught machete fighting to Americans training in the Canal Zone, 96

LAW (Light Antitank Weapon):

few advantages and numerous weaknesses, 129-134

failures to fire caused by high humidity in Vietnam, 130

Kearny’s and others’ failures to develop a moisture proof carrying case to protect LAW, 131

disastrous ineffectiveness of LAWs fired against the North Vietnam Army’s Russian tanks in the Battle of Lang Vei, 131, 132

Leatherwood, Captain James M., Army Ordnance, fired more RPG-7s than any other American, and unsuccessfully advocated Ordnance copy the RPG-7, 128

Lee, Captain Wilbur, heroic Special Forces A Team commander who organized the successful defense of the Trang Dung community during the Tet Offensive, 329-331

Lewis, Brigadier General Robert H.:

C.G. of the Panama Mobile Force units on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, 84

received Major General Prosser’s oral order to put his forces on war alert 10 days before Pearl Harbor, 84

Life raft, breath-inflated, airman’s, 56, 75

Life rafts, rubber, pneumatic, used as boats by American raiders of Japanese-held islands, 72-74

Life Vest B7, 45

Lightening the soldier’s load, 100, 101

LINCLOE (Lightweight INdividual CLOthing and Equipment program), 275

Lindquist, Dr. A.W., USDA entomologist who pioneered aerial spraying of DDT, 216, 217

Load carrying equipment, continuing need for lighter, better, 285

Lomba, Rosemary, in 1993 “the designer of record for all BDUs -- at Natick RDE Center,” 190

Luminous night sights for rifles, 111, 112

Lutz, Colonel George, USA, 328

M-16 rifles:

in the Tet Offensive in Saigon, 102-105

design disadvantages, 103, 104

humane, tranquilizing bullets prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1907, 107

supersonic bullets of M-16s cause worse wounds than prohibited dumdum bullets, 107

lack of M-16 ramrods caused jamming, resulted in Americans being killed, 107, 108

Lt. Rick Rescorla’s account of M-16s jamming in a critical battle, 108

firing range test comparing M-16s vs AK-47s prohibited near Saigon, 110

M-16A2s issued with ramrods in their hollow stocks after the Vietnam War, 111

M-16 rifle bags issued during and after the Vietnam War:

protect M-16s and their magazines from sand, dust, and snow, 120-126

specified for many years in official TMs on M-16s, but not available from official sources in the Gulf War and through 1996, 112, 113

M-16 Rifle Bags breath inflated for use as flotation devices for many purposes, including to float and tow a casualty, 44-46

few issued in Vietnam, 115

used intelligently and ineptly, 118

produced and supplied by private groups, especially The American Legion during the Persian Gulf War, 119-121

lacked by Marines in the 3rd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 1st Division, while accomplish-ing an unsupported night‑and‑day infiltration of Iraqi defenses, 125

homemade M-16 rifle bags, instructions for making and using, 363, 364

pleated sandwich bags supplied to protect M-16 magazines, 120, 364, 365

Machetes:

as tools and weapons, 94

supplanted the Army’s bolos during and after W.W.II, 94, 95, 100

instructions for machete fighting, 96, 97

used to kill Japanese:

in hand-to-hand fights, 96, 97

by beheading an ambushed Japanese soldier with one blow, 98

in the Military Museum, Beijing, 96

worsened by cost reductions in peacetime, 101

sharpening devices for, 361, 362

Machete sheaths:

cotton duck, 95, 100, 361

nylon fabric, 100, 361

molded plastic, 100, 361

Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU), 125

Marines and U.S. Marine Corps, 134, 135, 283-285

“Market Garden,” the greatest airborne operation, lacked lightweight boats, 62

Marshall, Brigadier General S.L.A., 281, 282

Mars Task Force’s infantrymen in Burma, 163, 164, 191

M^cMillan, Dr. William G., Science Advisor to General Westmoreland, recruited Kearny to serve under him in Vietnam, contributed the Introduction to this book and much important unpublished information, 5, 6, 14, 132, 142, 200, 261, 284, 328, 332

M^cNamara, Robert Strange, Secretary of Defense, and his “Whiz Kids,” 199, 200

Media, the U.S. media in Vietnam, 327-329

Medical Kits, Individual:

the Army’s of W.W.II, 306-308

OSS’s of W.W.II, 306

unfilled need in the Vietnam War, and continuing, 308

Mekong River, 18

Merrill, Major General Frank, commanded Merrill’s Marauders, the regimental combat team that spearheaded the reconquest of Burma, 43

Merrill’s Marauders (5307th Composite Unit, Provisional), 61, 291, 292, 309

Meuse River, 65, 66

Miller, Captain Christopher L., S-4, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, in 1995 reported the protective coverings for M-16s and M-2 carbines are manufactured by Eagle Industries. (These rifle cases are heavy, retail for $89.64, and will not float a rifle.), 126

Miller, Master Sergeant Lyle, 312th Military Intelligence Battalion, First Cavalry Division, ordered to keep his M-16 uncovered during the 100 hours of ground combat in the Gulf War, 118

Mobilization Buckle, needed but not issued until late in the Vietnam War, 18

Molotov Cocktails:

worldwide uses, 134-138

hundreds of thousands manufactured in England shortly before Hitler’s expected invasion, 135

improvising the type used by 101st Airborne in Battle of the Bulge, 135-137

materials for making, 138, 139

Marines taught to improvise and use in 1989, 134

Montgomery, Field Marshall Bernard Law, provided far too few river-crossing boats for his troops, 62-64

Moore, Lieutenant General Harold G., 108

Moselle River, 65, 66

Mosquitoes, 214-219, 227, 254

Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, CA, 144

Nickerson, Major General Herman, USMC, stated need for individual flotation gear, 36, 37

Nijmegen Bridge over the Waal, 63

Ninth Division, in Mekong Delta, 17, 316

North, Gary, whose Remnant Review newsletter printed and widely distributed 15,000 copies of instructions written by Kearny and Robinson for making homemakeable M-16 Rifle Bags, a distribution that led indirectly to the factory production and shipment of over 600,000 M-16 Rifle Bags by The American Legion, 120

Nuclear weapons, continuing danger of U.S. first use, 348, 350

Nylon, its superiority over cotton for most military equipment, 264-269

O’Connor, Major General George G., C.G., Ninth Division in the Mekong Delta, 17, 18, 199

Office of Strategic Services (OSS), 13

Oliver, Lt. Col. Robert W., USMC, Ret’d, activist for survival gear and improved weapons, 36, 121, 123, 146, 284, 308, 315

Packboards:

of W.W.II/Vietnam War, 272-274

of Chinese professional porters, 273

Packs, frameless:

Jungle Pack of W.W.II, 26-28, 263, 269-271

M-1944 and M-1945 cargo-and-combat field pack series — enlarged versions of the Jungle Pack for temperate and cold regions; millions produced, 271

Vietcong and NVA packs, 282, 283

Canvas Field Pack, found too small for jungle operations, 271

Packs/rucksacks with external frames:

Norwegian rucksack, and copies made in Panama for Jungle Platoons, 271, 272

Lightweight Rucksack, the most used and appreciated by Americans in Vietnam, 274, 275

Indigenous Rucksack, the ARVN Rucksack, 274

ALICE (All-purpose Lightweight Individual Combat Equipment) pack, 278

Field Pack, Large, with External Frame (LCS-88), 278, 279

Packs/rucksacks with internal frames, which made them inefficient for carrying large heavy objects:

Lightweight Tropical Rucksack, 276

Combat Field Pack-90, with its very small detachable day pack, 279, 280

Panama Soles for combat boots:

conceived by Sergeant Raymond Dobie, an assistant to Major Kearny, late in W.W.II, 178

improved and tested in 1966 by Cresson Kearny, as his unfunded private project, for use on Tropical Combat Boots in Vietnam, 179

Wellco Enterprises, convinced by Kearny of the superiority of Panama Soles, made molds and enough Tropical Combat Boots with Panama Soles to interest the Army in making field tests, 179, 180

production and issue ordered in 1968 by General Howard K. Johnson, Army Chief of Staff, 180

design worsened in order to attain minor savings, 181

used on General Schwarzkopf’s improved desert combat boots, 183, 184

Parachutes, used for dropping rations, ammo, etc., often ineffective, 294, 295

Parafoils or gliders, radio guided via Global Positioning System satellites, may be important component of the supply system “by the turn of the century,” 299, 300

Parafoils/parachutes, radio guided, proved effective by Boeing’s Penetration Systems project under Edwin N. York during the Vietnam War, but not thoroughly tested or adopted, 295-299

Patarroyo, Dr. Manuel, developed and promoted a promising malaria vaccine, 311

Patent royalty rights disclaimed by Kearny, 251

People Sniffers, airborne and carried by infantrymen, detected methane gas but proved ineffective for detecting enemies in Vietnam, 153

Permethrin insecticide/insect repellent:

increasing importance, 214, 219, 224, 226, 229, 230

how permethrin kills, 219, 221

limitations, 219, 226

total impregnation of clothing and insect nets, 219, 221-226, 375-378, 382, 383

EPA instructions for using, justified and unjustified, 220, 221-225

WHO’s failures to supply permethrin to its peacekeepers, 222, 223, 378, 380, 381

shipments made by sea for American forces in Saudi Arabia, misplaced/lost, 226

Chilean officers bought 40% permethrin concentrate from Brigade Quartermasters for Chilean peacekeepers going to Cambodia, received detailed instructions from Kearny for impregnating uniforms and bed nets, 222, 223, 375-383

scientific tests of its effectiveness for impregnating clothing and bed nets, 381-382

chigger bites prevented by permethrin-treated clothing, 225

a principal means for combatting resurgent malaria, 311

instructions, uncopyrighted, for impregnation, 375-378, 382, 383

failure of UN to supply its peacekeepers, 378, 379

Perot, H. Ross, persuaded Federal Express to fly a plane load of M-16 Rifle Bags and magazine-protective “baggies” to Saudi Arabia, where they were received by designated Marine Corps officers under Colonel B.D. Lynch, 120, 121

Perry, Dr. William J., Secretary of Defense, 342

Polish 5th Parachute Brigade’s disaster while attempting Rhine crossing, 64

Ponchos:

used by explorers and pioneers, 231

issued to Sherman’s troops late in the Civil War, then eliminated, 231, 232

resurrected for issue to American soldiers fighting Filipino guerrillas in 1900, then eliminated, 232, 233

improved design developed in Panama, ordered by General Stilwell for his troops in Burma, 233, 234

hooded ponchos, 234

ponchos in Vietnam, 235, 236

worsening of ponchos in peacetime, 236

ponchos used for canopies suspended over open hammocks, 237

Poron® inserts/insoles, that in 1992 replaced the slightly more costly Saran ventilating insoles, 183

Potomac River, 405

Powell, General Colin, when a Captain in Vietnam became a casualty from a poisoned punji spike, 179

Princess Ada de Bogaslowa, captured by Lt. Kearny in Darien, 92, 93

Prosser, Major General Walter E.:

advocated the Army’s buying its first two airplanes, received and tested them shortly before W.W.I, 55

C.G. Panama Mobile Force, 10, 23

initiated work with U.S. Rubber Co. before Pearl Harbor developing W.W.II Jungle Boots, as his unfunded private project, 54, 55, 173

had Lt. Kearny ordered to Panama to become the Jungle Experiments Officer of the Panama Mobile Force, 244

authorized initial buying and testing of dry, ready-to-eat Jungle Rations, before Pearl Harbor, 289

backed development and testing of breath-inflated infantrymen’s boats, jungle uniforms, compasses for all jungle soldiers, Jungle Hammocks, insecticides, and jungle rations, 55-57, 201, 217, 244, 248

ordered his Panama Mobile Force to quietly go on war alert 10 days before Pearl Harbor, after correctly interpreting the famous war warning. That action damaged his career, 84-88

sent his first Jungle Platoon to silence German agents’ radio in Darien, soon after Pearl Harbor, 89-93

commanded Camp Crowder, Missouri (a big Signal Corps training center) during most of W.W.II, 87

Punji spike, a poisoned bamboo spike, ran through Captain Colin Powell’s foot and ended his career with combat troops, 179

Racial superiority convictions of Americans and Asiatics, 349

Raincoats:

advantages and disadvantages, 236, 237

Australian lightweight raincoats in Vietnam, the best, 236, 237

Ranger trainees, four died in a swamp in 1995 lacking flotation gear or a boat, 44, 45, 69

Rations for jungle infantrymen of friendly forces, 301, 302

Rations, ready-to-eat, dry:

parched rice of elite shock troops of King Ho-lu of Ch’u, 288

mares’ milk, sun-dried, of Mongol horsemen, 288

pemmican, 288

parched corn of frontiersmen, 288

Jungle Ration of W.W.II, 289-291, 390, 391

free dropped into jungle, 391-393

K ration (mostly dry, 3 boxes per day), its weaknesses, 292-294

parched rice of Vietcong/NVA, 287, 288

Long Range Patrol (LRP) ration, excellent, but severely “controlled,”and too expensive for most infantry companies in Vietnam to afford, 287, 304, 305

NATO “Emergency Ration” MR-8, compact, palatable, “acceptable to soldiers of all cultures and religions,” but probably not to typical American peacetime soldiers, 302, 303

Rations, ready-to-eat, wet:

C Rations, canned, bulky, 4.5 pounds per day, inexpensive, 286

Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE), a wet ration similar to the C Ration, but each meal in a waterproof, tough plastic-film pouch, 303, 304

Ray, Robert, and Robert Neal, respectively president and vice president of Maine Poly, Inc., the plastic bags company that donated much of the costs of manufacturing over 600,000 M-16 Rifle Bags donated by The American Legion to the Army and Marine Corps, 120

Regiment, Twelfth Cavalry, 26

Regimental Combat Team, 158th, 26

Reimer, General Dennis J., Army Chief of Staff:

concerned about the deaths of the four Ranger trainees in a swamp, 45

thanked Kearny for information on FAE weapons and countermeasures, 150

Resor, Secretary of the Army Stanley R., supporter of infantrymen’s improved jungle equipment, 264-267

Revenge seekers, 350

Rhine River crossing, disastrous losses due to provision of only a few boats, 62, 135

Rifle, 106-mm, recoilless, effective against light tanks, 131

Rifle Bags:

Rifle and carbine bags of Marine Corps and Army in World War II, 113-115

M-16 Rifle Bags issued during and after the Vietnam War, see M-16 Rifle Bags.

homemade M-16 Rifle Bags, 124, 363, 364

impractical M-16 rifle bags officially produced but not issued in the Persian Gulf War, 115-117

Multi-Purpose M-16 Rifle Bags with instructions printed on them, 121, 122, 350

need for lightweight, quickly removable rifle bags, forgotten and denied, 124

Rifle cases for M-16 rifles and M-2 carbines, heavy ones issued in 1996 to some Special Forces and Marine Corps units, 126

Riot Control gas (CS gas), not to be confused with any tear gas, including CN gas, 157, 158

River Crossing Doctrine, U.S. Army copied German Doctrine with its too few boats, 68, 69

RPG-7 (Rocket Propelled Grenade-7):

advantages, 127, 128

Dr. M^cMillan and General Westmoreland advocated copying that perfected shoulder-fired Soviet weapon, but Army Ordnance refused, 128

Chechens used RPG-7s to destroy Russian tanks, 129

Robinson, Dr. Arthur B., contributed to the development, production, and supply of M-16 Rifle Bags, both homemade and manufactured, during and after the Persian Gulf War, 120-123, 350

Saigon, 102

Saigon River, 102

Salween, the largest river in Burma, surprise mass crossing using hundreds of breath‑inflated boats, 53, 54

Saran ventilating, insolating insoles, 181-183

Schreck, Carl E., leading USDA entomologist on uses of permethrin, 208, 209, 220, 221, 224, 227, 230

Schwarzkopf, General Norman:

Schwarzkopf Desert Boot, ways it is better than Hot Weather Combat Boot in deserts, 183, 184

Schwarzkopf Desert Uniform, superior, but eliminated, 189, 212

Scorpions, 242

Screwworms, and protection against screwworm flies, 205, 374

Sewell, R.G.S., sent 100 water wings to Vietnam, 36

Sewing kit for individual jungle soldiers in W.W.II, 198, 199

Shalikashvili, General John M., Chief of the Joint Chiefs, concerned about deaths of the four Ranger trainees in a swamp, 45

Sharks:

killed hundreds of Americans in W.W.II, 80-82

ineffective shark repellents, 81, 82

attacks minimized by being in a Johnson shark screen, or in any boat, 82

Siegfried, Major General R.S., Deputy The Inspector General, Department of the Army, in 1995 expressed interest in breath-inflated boats and pneumatic rafts, 69

Singlaub, Major General John K., world-ranging fighter against communism, 243, 344

Siple, Dr. Paul, arctic explorer and expert, in W.W.II worked in Special Forces, OQMG, conceived and developed the Mickey Mouse cold weather boot, 369

“Six twelve” (“612”), the U.S. Armed Services’ insect repellent during W.W.II and until the Vietnam War, 214-216, 218

Skin diseases in Vietnam, 201

Slapton Sands mass drownings, 31-33

Sleeping mats, disadvantageously carried in 1994 by infantrymen training in Panama, 258-260

Snafus, jungle:

reasons for and broad implications, 7, 8

ways powerful generals may prevent snafus, 337-341

ways a soldier may remedy snafus, 334-336

Snakes in jungle, including an account of Kearny being mistaken for a huge snake, and his capturing a bushmaster, 244, 245, 248-250

Socks, Cushion Sole Nylon, cool, quick drying, none produced after the Vietnam War, 185, 206

Socks, sleeping, mosquito-protective, 206-208

Soviet/Russian shoulder-fired Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs):

SAM-7s used by the NVA in 1972 to shoot down 35 U.S. and South Vietnamese aircraft in six months, 344

fired by Bosnian Serbs at U.S. bombers in 1995, forcing them to fly high and bomb through holes in the cloud cover, 344, 345

Spanel, Abe, chemist, inventor, founder/owner of International Latex Corporation, improver and manufacturer of the breath inflated boats bought by the Army, 59-62

Special Forces, in Vietnam, 329-333

Special Forces, Office of the Quartermaster General (OQMG), an Army facility during W.W.II, 59

Spring Offensive of 1968, 331

Srithirath, Soubanh, Laotian deputy defense minister, explained to Senator Hank Brown why Laotian villagers killed captured American flyers, 349

Starbird, Lieutenant General Alfred Dodd, and Fuel-Air-Explosives, 144

Starlight Scopes:

ruined by high humidity and tropical fungi, 153

no waterproof carrying case, without or with a drying agent, 153

deadly on a Marine’s M-16 for repelling North Vietnamese attacks on a Khe San hill, 154, 155

Stilwell, General Joseph W.:

got infantrymen’s breath-inflated boats for his armies in Burma, 48, 49, 53, 60-62, 69

ordered the first large number of ponchos made and issued in W.W.II, 178

stressed jungle training, 61

got Jungle Hammocks for his troops in Burma to use in secured areas, 178, 261

Stingers, shoulder-fired antiaircraft weapons:

decisive weapons in Afghanistan, 10, 343, 344

similar shoulder-fired weapons will degrade U.S. airpower, 10, 344-347

Stinger-like weapons fired by Equidorians quickly won the Peru-Equidor War, 346, 347

major improvements attainable, 346

Swain, Douglas S., Natick’s leading designer and tester of boots and packs, 185

Sweaters, Jungle, in W.W.II used by jungle infantrymen not burdened with blankets or poncho liners, 201, 202

Sweatrags, sweatcloths, and neckerchiefs, 209, 210

Tanks deployed by the NVA, 131-133

Tenth Air Force, 49

Tents:

pup tents, W.W.I through the Persian Gulf War, disadvantages, 238, 239

walled tents, with and without tent flies, 238, 239

Australian excellent walled tents in Vietnam, 238

Terrorism by the Vietcong and NVA, 327-329

Tet Offensive, 102-105, 329-331

Thailand, 153

Thermal imaging devices, 347

Thirst, extreme, 42, 43

Timeliness of this book, 12

TOW, ground-to-ground, wire-guided missile, 128, 134

Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), after the Persian Gulf War informed Rock Island Arsenal that since the end of the war there was no requirement for M-16 protective bags, so no bags were ordered, 117, 124

Trang Dung Camp of Special Forces A Team 502, 329-331

Tropical Combat Boot (“jungle boot”) of the Vietnam War and later, 173-175

Tropical diseases:

malaria, resurgent, still the cause of the majority of casualties in most tropical operations, 309-311

malaria vaccine for American soldiers still merely a hope in 1996, 311

malaria, cerebral, often fatal, and a crazed patient, 311, 312

combat-proven means for reducing casualties from malaria, 312

means recommended by Dr. Herbert Clark for avoiding infected mosquitoes, 313

typhus, scrub, 309, 310, 314

ways that American soldiers can help prevent skin diseases in the humid tropics, 314, 315

combatting skin diseases in future jungle wars, 317, 318

generals given grossly low casualty rates on tropical skin diseases, 315, 316

sexually transmitted diseases worsening, and protective measures, 320, 321

jungle medical kits, increasing need by American soldiers lacking acquired immunities, 321-323

Truman Doctrine, 14

Tuira, Rio, in Darien, Panama, 90

Undershirts, Army issue:

pre-Vietnam War type, cool, 200

type initially mandated under M^cNamara to prevent waste, warmer, 200

General Westmoreland’s style-setting white undershirts, and skin diseases, 200, 201

Underwear, avoid wearing in humid, hot tropics, 189

Uniform, “Undress”, the worst hot weather combat uniform ever worn by American soldiers, worn in 1834 by troopers of the First Regiment of United States Dragoons, 211, 212

Uniforms of American soldiers worn in jungle combat in W.W.II:

fatigue uniform, simple shirt-and trousers, the uniform most widely worn in W.W.II, 197

one piece, reversible, the worst, 195

Byrd Cloth uniform, the best, 191

Uniforms, hot weather, made of synthetic fabrics, 370, 371

Uniforms, desert (Light Weight BDUs), 500,000 greatly improved, cooler uniforms ordered by General Norman Schwarzkopf for his troops in the Persian Gulf War, but production terminated soon after his retirement, 212

Uniforms, desert, 189, 212, 213

Uniforms, hot weather, worn after 1984 by American soldiers, 188-191, 196-198, 212, 213, 371-373

Uniforms worn in jungle and desert wars by soldiers of foreign armies:

North Vietnamese Army’s, the best uniform in the Vietnam War, 193-195

British, with shorts, 177; with long trousers, 177; with internal suspenders, 196

Israeli, single thickness, without sewn-on-reinforcements, 197

Australian, including an “improved” jungle uniform snafu in Vietnam, 210, 211

Union Carbide Corporation, donated funds to develop flotation bladders/collapsible canteens, etc. needed in the Vietnam War, 34

“Value engineering” usually worsens combat items, 182

Vampire bats, 243

Vietcong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA), their:

packs, bags, and uniforms, 282, 283

breath-inflated flotation tubes, 19

Ho Chi Minh Sandals, 186

cargo-loaded bicycles pushed down Ho Chi Minh Trail, 283

Vietcong observed bravely attacking Saigon, 102-105

Vietcong’s capabilities for offensive operations terminated by Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) program, 331

Vietnamese anti-communist combat forces:

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), 326, 331

Regional Forces (RF), 326, 331

Popular Forces (PF), 326, 331

Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG), 326, 330-333

Vietnamization, our final effort to enable anti-communist Vietnamese to defend themselves, 324-327

Vietnam War, its few lasting advantages to the United States, 333

Vuono, General Carl E., Army Chief of Staff, recognized Stingers as the decisive weapon in the Afghan-Soviet war, 343, 344

Waal River, 62-64

War alert of the Panama Mobile Force 10 days before Pearl Harbor, 84-88

Washabaugh, Lieutenant Colonel Brad G., USMC:

needed but did not have sand-protective bags for his and his battalion’s weapons while infiltrating Iraqi defenses of Kuwait, 47, 125

recounted use of man-pulled carts in his battalion’s 2-day unmechanized infiltration of Kuwaiti defenses, 283-284

arranged for preliminary testing and evaluation of improved Multi-Purpose M-16 Rifle Bags, 47, 125

Water discipline, proved detrimental and then eliminated, 292

Waterproof Food Bags for Jungle Rations, 289, 290

Waterproof Packliner Bags, issued with Jungle Packs, 26, 27, 269, 270

Water Wings for U.S. Marines:

field testing in Vietnam prohibited, 36-38

how used, 36

95 unofficially sold in Vietnam for $1.00, 38

Wellco Enterprises, the initial and largest manufacturer of Panama Soles, 179, 180

WerBell, Mitchell L. IV, patriotic President of Brigade Quartermasters, 379, 380

Westmoreland, General William C., 132, 133, 200, 201, 268, 318, 324, 328

Wickiups, expedient shelters developed by Apaches and used by American jungle soldiers, 249

Woodberry, Captain Robert L., designer of the Byrd Cloth jungle uniform, Saran ventilating insoles, etc., 182, 192, 204

Yoke, CO₂-inflated, found to be an impractical flotation device for soldiers, 40

York, Edwin N., inventor, retired Boeing Aerospace Senior Research Specialist, contributed to this book his uncopyrighted article on radio-guided cargo delivery by parafoils, 295-299

Yunnan Chinese Expeditionary Force used breath-inflated boats in mass crossings of the Irrawaddy and the Salween, 48-50, 53, 54

Zieg, Major Donald E.:

Bushmaster infantryman in island reconquests, New Guinea into the Philippines, 26, 155, 196

revealed how our island-invading forces deterred Japanese from using poison gas, 155, 156

reported on the Jungle Sweater he wore in Panama and in reconquests of tropical islands, 202

procedures that he and his Jungle Platoon used to prevent disease and to keep from being ambushed, 313, 315